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Less than 24 hours after the end of a stirring season, the Raptors have inked head coach Dwane Casey to a three-year contract extension, league sources confirmed early Monday evening.

Casey’s future had been speculated upon before the season even started.

He had worked wonders in his first year at the helm, completely turning around the Raptors’ defensive mentality in 2010-11 and the team immediately picked up his third-year option. It was a two-foot putt at the time, as the future looked extremely bright.

However, last year was nothing short of a disaster, with the Raptors falling out of contention early and ending up with a 34-48 record as Casey had his differences with point guard Kyle Lowry, an unrestricted free agent this summer. But instead of letting Casey go, new general manager Masai Ujiri kept him on. Results followed, and Ujiri has now rewarded him with another three years at the helm.

Casey and Ujiri will meet with the media on Tuesday, when it’s expected the deal will be made official.

Casey led the club to an Atlantic Division crown and a near-victory in seven games over the Brooklyn Nets — the most expensive NBA roster ever assembled — and the Raptors finished in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating and won a franchise-record 48 games. He was the East’s coach of the month once and received many votes for coach of the year.

Respected, even revered by his players, Casey is a defensive taskmaster who has made his young players better and has grown considerably as a head coach. He and his staff did fine work in 2013-14. This extension is well-deserved and provides a rare dose of stability for a franchise that has not had much of that over the years.

Casey has gone 105-125 with the Raptors, despite having a roster nearly completely barren of talent in 2011-12.

He has constantly pushed his contract status to the back, unwilling to make it an issue, while continually making sure the focus is on building the Raptors’ program.

That process has had hiccups, but appears to be on track.

Casey’s players expected his return. Earlier on Monday, Kyle Lowry told the media he was “sure” Casey would be re-signed. Casey has meant a lot to DeMar DeRozan, who has grown into an all-star under his watch.

“He’s been the same Dwane Casey since he’s been here. Preached the same thing, told us to stick with the same principles and they’ll work. We did it, and everything he said came together like he said it would. And you gotta respect coach Casey, he never changed up. You could go in his office, knock on his door, talk to him whenever, you could text him. He’s a player’s coach. He’s a great dude.

“Sometimes you don’t even look at him like a coach because you could go up to him and talk to Dwane about any situation. I think that’s what helped us a lot.”

And what Casey has told the team had led to results, which is a key.

“He’s not just saying it just to say it,” DeRozan said.

“He’s not going to tell you to do something just to do it. It’s a reason behind everything. Once you respect a man’s word like that, you’re going to work for him.”

Casey has coached 230 regular-season games in Toronto, 16 behind Lenny Wilkens and 115 behind Sam Mitchell. His .457 winning percentage is second only to Wilkens’ .459, though Wilkens had a far better cast to work with.

The talent should continue to improve, as should Casey’s record going forward.

“This guy, man. This guy did so much and really got us ready,” said Greivis Vasquez.

“As a leader, you gotta give him a lot of credit. He did a great job. He did a great job, I thought we got better throughout the season. We gradually got better and the coaching staff was great. He should be back, to be honest, because what a great job he has done.”

Masai Ujiri could have let him go because he did not hire him, but in reality, this was the easiest decision Ujiri will make all summer.